Personal

Over the last two years, I’ve found myself in numerous situations where I’m minding my own business, and something unexpected occurs. I will describe these below, as the possible explanations are intriguing.

The first experience I will describe occurred on a day where I needed to head straight from work to the bank. They had received a card in my name, and I needed to pick it up. After the pick-up, my plan was to head back into the city, as I had plans to watch a movie with friends. I was using Montreal’s metro system to get these tasks done, as I always do. When I left the metro, and began walking towards my bank, a strange thought popped into my head: Maybe I should call Dad for a lift.

Now, to better put this into perspective, you should know that I’ve had my own place for 5 years. Due to the convenience of the metro system, I don’t need to drive. Sometimes, I do get lifts from people; however, those occasions must be appropriate. I won’t call someone strictly to abuse of their lift-giving generosity. The situation I’m describing is a perfect example of an inappropriate moment. For one, my parents live fairly close to the bank I’m describing. In fact, so do I. There isn’t much point in me asking for a lift, because the bank isn’t that far to begin with. Next, you should know that I don’t commonly ask anything of my father. It’s just not something I do, so the idea of calling him to help me seemed a bit weird, especially given how ordinary my plans were. Everything was going according to plan, and I was doing everything independently, as I always do. So, given how abnormal this thought was, I ignored it, and just kept walking towards the bank, which is part of a mall. Once I arrived at the mall… to my disbelief, I noticed a familiar car driving past me. My father’s car. Though confused, I managed to get his attention, and he stopped the car. He just-so-happened to be at the mall, and offered to drive me back to the metro station after I stopped by the bank. I accepted, and proceeded by entering the bank – only to realize that they wanted more ID than I had anticipated. Had it occurred without the presence of my father, I wouldn’t have been able to get my card. He drove me to my place, where I retrieved the additional ID requested, and with it, I was able to return to complete my bank transaction, without being late for the movie. Had I not encountered my father, I would have likely been late… the ID mix-up meant dealing with transport all over again.

The next experience occurred while I was preparing for my Dragon*Con 2010 trip. I went for a last minute shopping spree, and again, while walking to the same mall, an uncommon thought came to me. Maybe I should call dad, he may have some shopping to do too. Bizarre. I never invite anyone to go shopping with me while en route, I just go stick to the original plan. So, much like the previous story, as I was doing my rounds within the mall, I just-so-happened to bump into my father. He was there for a massage, and after he was done – he met up with me. Once again, the idea that popped into my head was not normal. It isn’t something I would normally think of. Yet, it materialized, despite the fact that I ignored it originally.

At Dragon*Con 2010, I attended as many Battlestar Galactica panels as I could. On the night of the third day, I attended a panel that was lead by a few enthusiasts. No one there had actually worked on the show, but it was still interesting to discuss theories about what happened in the storyline. A few audience members spoke up, including myself. One particular audience member stood out to me. He seemed particularly well spoken, and had intelligent contributions to the group dialogue. After hearing one of his theories, one of the panel members jokingly said: “You must be a writer”, to which he acknowledged he actually was. Soon after, I made a mental note to ask him about his work. After the panel, I waited outside the room, chatting with my sister. Since he seemed to be taking some time to speak to the panel members, I eventually left. After all, there was no specific reason to speak to him. I was just curious about what kind of work he produced.

The next day, my sister and I decided to attend another Battlestar Galactica panel. This one was taking place in a large ballroom, the one they used when some big names were going to be part of the panel. By large, I mean a 25,000 square foot ballroom. We arrived a few minutes late, and so most of the seats were taken. I spotted and approached some available seats to the front left of the room, and guess who was seated at the head of the row? The writer from the night before. I wasn’t surprised, given my previous experiences, but did appreciate the humor. I saw it was an amusing inevitability – these things just seem to occur. The writer’s name, by the way, turned out to be Peter Ristuccia. I’ve been reading his blog on a regular basis, and I recommend it.

Lastly, I’m going to mention a dream. Without going into excessive detail, in this dream, I was in the middle of a large scale natural disaster, a flood. After evading numerous threats, I eventually found myself among fellow survivors. I remember experiencing a solemn feeling of accomplishment, as I looked around at the others. From my left approached a familiar face – we’ll call him Kevin. His words to me were simple in their honesty: It is good to see you, my friend. After waking from the dream, I found it interesting that Kevin had appeared to me. It had been more than a year since I’d seen him in person. He was an old college acquaintance of mine, and while we got along, we rarely saw each other.

A few days after that, I left work during lunch to go to a dentist appointment. After the appointment, I proceeded to walk back to the office, around which I usually have lunch. At one particular street corner, I was surprised to be approached by an individual, who walked over to me from the left. It was Kevin. Thankfully, he didn’t say exactly what he said in my dream. That would have seriously shaken up my sense of what was real, and what wasn’t.

Now that you’ve read the above, there is something I’d like to emphasize: at the end of the day, I’m a developer. I believe in logic, first and foremost. Still, I have to acknowledge that these scenarios are odd, almost defying logic.  Are these occurrences simply the result of coincidence, or is there more to it? I’m intrigued, to say the least.

UPDATE: Synchronicity.

While I was choosing my top 5 favorite costumes from Dragon Con 2010, I realized there would be a few runner-ups. I decided to reveal the best of these runner-ups in this blog post, listed in no specific order.

Codex from The Guild

The Guild is web-based show created by Felicia Day. It centers around the adventures of an odd group of gamers who are part of the same in-game guild. Needless to say, to truly appreciate the series, it is best if you have previous experience with MMORPGs. Felicia Day stars as Cyd Sherman, whose in-game character is named Codex. Codex can be seen briefly in the title screen of the series, but to get a clear idea of what she looks like, see her profile page at The Guild’s website.

Alan from The Hangover

When I first spotted this guy, I was seriously wondering if he was the real actor, Zach Galifianakis. If you’ve seen The Hangover, you probably know what to expect.

To see what he looked like in the film, see the results of this Google Image Search.

After taking a photo with him, he told me the following:

“Remember, tigers like pepper.”

(Those who saw the movie will appreciate his comment)

Slayer of Bunnies

As I was leaving on the last day of Dragon Con, I spotted this girl – and had to take a picture. As far as I know, her costume isn’t a reference to anything specific. Seems to be purely creative, and for that, she gets bonus points.

From looking at the photo, you can tell that she killed a rabbit, and put its fur to good use – she made a hat, gloves, and boots. I definitely appreciated her sense of humor. That concludes my blog posts about Dragon*Con 2010. For more costumes, feel free to browse through the 150+ photos I recently made available through Flickr.

As I mentioned previously, this article will cover my top 5 favorite costumes from Dragon Con 2010. Before we dive into the list, I feel I should first mention what I look for in these costumes.

First, the more realistic the costume looks, the more I like it. If I get a feeling the character being portrayed might actually exist, then that’s a success. To give you an example, I never really liked the Batman movies until I saw Batman Begins. To me, that’s when the character really became respectable and interesting to watch.

Second, the more specific the reference, the less people will recognize it – but the more value it has to those that do. Sure, people might appreciate how cool a costume looks, but will they understand very subtle references?  In my mind, I see subtle references as a gamble – those that understand it will have a greater payoff.

So, with that in mind, here are the top 5 costumes:

5 Harley Quinn from Batman: Arkham Asylum

Ah, yes, Harley Quinn. While there were many to be seen at Dragon Con, one particular costume caught my eye. She was portraying a specific version of Harley Quinn, one that I’ve only seen in a specific game: Batman: Arkham Asylum. Not only was the game exceptionally good, but it also made the character more realistic – it made me think she could very well exist. I was therefore pleased when I spotted this girl’s portrayal of Harley. She also struck me as particularly sinister-looking, which fit the part perfectly.

Costume Original

4 Colossus

Next up, here’s a version of Colossus that I really liked. The others I saw looked unrealistic, were portrayed by short guys, and were leaning more towards matching the comic book style. This guy went with a different approach, and in my opinion, outdid the others. When I first spotted him from a distance, it almost looked like he was truly made of metal – the fake light reflection in the paint job helped have this effect. When I approached him, I realized that he was a big guy, who was even taller than me… and I’m 6’4″. Sure, he has the boots to help him gain that height, but what it did was really give him a towering presence. The guy quite simply had the right physical build to dress like Colossus, and he backed that up with an excellent paint job.

Costume Original

(source)

3 The Doctor and Donna Noble from Doctor Who

This guy was part of the parade, and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw him. Funny, original costume – and he really does look like he’s being chased by a giant wasp. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate him afterwards- so all I have to show is this photo, which unfortunately isn’t from the best angle.

UPDATE: Commenter “mandawho” points out that this actually a Doctor Who reference.

2 Tauren with Elven Guestgiver

As a guy who used to play World of Warcraft, I can easily appreciate this next costume. You see, in World of Warcraft, non-player characters offer you quests. You know they have quests to offer by looking for a yellow exclamation mark over their heads. In the picture below, we see a Tauren speaking to Elven girl, who has a quest to offer. Both costumes are nice, but I especially like this photo in particular. It really seems like they’re in a conversation, right down to the body language.

1 American McGee’s Alice with Ragebox Mutation

In case you’ve never heard of American McGee’s Alice, it was a game released in 2000. It wasn’t about our typical, everyday Alice in Wonderland:

Set years after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, the game features an older, more cynical and macabre incarnation of Alice.

Source: Wikipedia

Back in 2002, a friend recommended I try this game. When I did, I truly began to understand what good game design was… which lead me to follow the work of American McGee himself, for many years.

So, with that said, the girl below was not only dressed as American McGee’s Alice. Instead, she was dressed as a mutated form of American McGee’s Alice. This mutation occurs perhaps only 3-4 times throughout the whole campaign, and it happens when you find a specific “Ragebox” power-up. Anyone can dress up as American McGee’s Alice, and it could look cool… but her mutated form? Awesome. It really takes knowledge of the game to fully appreciate the costume, and think this girl did a particularly good job perfecting it. I was hoping to speak to her some more about the costume, but was unable to find her again. So, wherever you are – great costume. I really appreciated seeing such a specific reference to one of my favorite games.

The gameplay video below will give you an idea of the game design, as well as what happens when Alice mutates.

Description

If you were listed in my Top 5, please feel free to contact me. I’m interested in hearing more about the making of your costume, and your general Dragon Con experience. I can be reached at mref…@gmail.com, or through the comment system on this blog.

In my next post, I’ll be going over a few costumes that almost made this list, and also, I will make the best of my photos available for public viewing on Flickr.

This year, I attended Dragon Con for the first time. If you’re not familiar with Dragon Con, it is a science fiction convention based in Atlanta, Georgia where actors, musicians, authors, directors, and artists in general gather to meet their fans. Having never been to such a convention, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I did, however, watch a few videos I found online, so I knew approximately how the panels were going to work. Upon arriving in Atlanta for the first time, I was immediately impressed with the overall landscape – not flat like the area I reside. Even while driving on the highway, it is possible to imagine that you’re actually in the middle of a forest. This is made possible mainly by the trees, which are massive enough to hide the majority of nearby buildings. It was also a pleasant reminder of the time I spent living in Florida, when I was much younger.

After settling in, I met up with my sister, and together we headed to Dragon Con. To be sure we were heading the right way to claim our pre-ordered badges, she asked a group of people where to go. We were told to go to the Sheraton, and as we were walking away, I realized one of the individuals in the group was none other than Sam Trammell, who plays Sam Merlotte in True Blood. So sure of this association, my spontaneous response was “Hey, it’s Sam Merlotte!”. Soon after which I shook his hand, as we exchanged simple greetings. I was pleased to see that it was that easy to encounter such a celebrity, simply walking to a hotel. I could have said something better, for example, I could have used his real name… but the reality was, I couldn’t recall it at that moment. Also, I did not try to take more of his time, as I knew he was heading to the True Blood panel.

Continuing on our way to the Sheraton, we spoke with a girl who was heading the same direction. She asked us which type of registration we were going for: preorder, or on-site registration. Upon hearing we preordered, she laughed and wished us the best of luck, explaining that she had to wait 4 hours in line to get her preordered badge, just the night before. Though somewhat skeptical, we approached the Sheraton, fearing the possibility. Unfortunately, the girl was correct, and we discovered that the line spanned many blocks outdoors. After about 15 mins of waiting, I decided to approach a member of their security. He confirmed that the wait was in fact approximately 3-4 hours for pre-order, but here’s the crazy part – he said the on-site registration line only had 30 mins wait. He mentioned that we could buy a day pass just for the first day, which would cost 35$ per ticket. We could then return to get our actual pre-order when the line was shorter. Not wanting to wait a possible 4 hours outside, we decided to spend an extra 35$ each. Sure enough, the on-site registration line was much quicker – especially if you paid cash, which we were able to do. Of course, this all meant we were paying money beyond our initial pre-order, which was already good for all four days of the Con. I found this strange: we ordered and paid ahead of time, and yet, our wait times are excessive compared to last minute buyers. This was a valuable learning experience – next Dragon Con, we were definitely not going to pre-order our tickets. Counter-intuitive, but necessary to avoid a big flaw in the whole event.

As we started to explore the affiliated hotels, it became clear that Dragon Con attendees loved to wear costumes. Everywhere we went, we saw people dressed up as their favorite character from movies, tv shows, etc. Many of these are impressive in quality – making for some great photo opportunities. In between attending panels, we made sure to use our camera to take an abundance of photos. In fact, I acquired so many photos that I will be writing a blog post where I name the top costumes, from my point of view.

Beyond taking photos, we spent a lot of time attending panels which featured actors we knew. Our focus was Battlestar Galactica, as we had both seen the series to completion. Therefore, after the first Battlestar panel, I decided to stay near the staff exit, hoping to bump into the speakers: Edward James Olmos, Aaron Douglas, Richard Hatch, and Mark Sheppard. After a few minutes, my strategy paid off. Most of the actors left through those doors, accompanied by their aides… but it really felt like a paparazzi-type scenario. Fans were taking photos, but the actors were continuing on their way. When Richard Hatch exited the room, I told him I was a big fan of his work, and shook his hand. He thanked me and continued on his way, with fans and camera flashes following him. Not sure where they would go, we followed behind them, but eventually decided to stop. I preferred that, as I was starting to feel like we were members of the paparazzi. After all, these are people just like us – the only difference is that their jobs gave them a good amount of public visibility.

We then discovered that a good portion of the celebrities attending would be available for autographs and photos in a place called the “Walk of Fame”. Having already met Sam Trammell in such an organic fashion, I was looking forward to meeting others in the same fashion. When we arrived there, I noticed that the celebrities were actually charging people to pose for photos. The Walk of Fame room had a strict no picture policy, with exceptions if you paid for a photo with a specific celebrity. Similarly, if you wanted an autograph, you’d have to pay for that too. The prices varied per celebrity, some charging as high as 50$ per photo – Edward James Olmos was one of these. I had hoped to get a photo with the famous Admiral Adama, but once I saw the price, I was immediately repulsed. I scouted the room further, and realized that some celebrities actually charged as low as 10$. This, to me, was more reasonable; however, I still could not allow myself to pay for a photo, or autograph. To me, I felt like the Con would serve as a great way for the artists to promote their work, and at the same time, they have the bonus of meeting some of their fans in person. I was proved wrong, as it seemed like there was a commercial aspect: the more famous the celebrity, the more they charged for their services.

I eventually discovered that Richard Hatch, who played Lee Adama in the original Battlestar Galactica, was not charging for people to take photos with him. When I realized this, I immediately began to respect him much more. Interesting thing is, when I originally arrived at the Con, I mainly knew him for his work on the re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica. I had seen him in the classic Battlestar, but primarily knew him as Tom Zarek, the terrorist-turned-politician that seemed to be more evil than good. Because of this, he wasn’t at the top of the list of the actors I wanted to meet. Somehow, watching him portray the character Tom Zarek left me with a negative association. So anyway, after I saw him in two panels and then spoke to him at the Walk of fame, I thought of him highly. I also eventually came to question why Richard Hatch wasn’t charging for photos, and why the others were. On Day 3, we decided to ask around – and here’s the response we were given. The celebrities set their own prices, and Dragon Con does not actually enforce a minimum. All money earned is therefore directly awarded to the artist. That, to me, meant to me that Richard Hatch was an exceptionally cool guy. Yes, the actors likely have to pay their way to Dragon Con – so I wouldn’t mind paying 10$ per photo, maybe 20$. Anything higher than that, and I get the feeling they just want some extra money. Evidently, Richard Hatch was granting his fans the opportunity to spend their money elsewhere, and for that, I must commend him. For all the others: considering the salaries they are paid, I don’t quite understand why they need to charge at conventions.

All in all, Dragon Con 2010 was a good experience, one that I will revisit every year. This first visit served as a form of reconnaissance – it allowed me to better determine what to expect. Next time, my approach will be better – less time spent waiting in lines, more time spent taking photos of great costumes, and attending interesting panels.

So, I installed the Trillian 5 Public Beta today, and was particularly amused when I encountered one of their new features:

It lets you know when someone is preparing to send you a message, even if you weren’t having a conversation with them. My initial reaction was that it was pretty creepy, but at the same time, I could see some interesting possibilities.

First, if you see an incoming message that you’re not interested in answering, you can choose to make yourself scarce, thereby granting yourself the possibility of pleading ignorance. Certainly not something I condone, but I still found it intriguing.

Second, you can send a message to the person before they finish theirs. That way, you’re exploiting the creepy nature of the feature to creep someone else out.

Will these possibilities help your productivity? Probably not, but they certainly amused me for a few moments. Though, to be honest, not as much as the introduction of Trillian’s Rick Roll Detection feature:

On May 21, 2010, Google announced the release of their new SSL Search service. This new search service behaves almost exactly like Google Search – the main difference being that it uses SSL for security. Wondering what SSL is? In the words of Google:

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a protocol that helps provide secure Internet communications for services like web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, and other data transfers. When you search over SSL, your search queries and search traffic are encrypted so they can’t be read by any intermediary party such as employers and internet service providers (ISPs).

Source: Google SSL Search Help

So, put simply, the announcement was great news for privacy and security enthusiasts everywhere. As one of these enthusiasts, I immediately switched to Google’s SSL search for all my web search needs. Sure, there were some drawbacks to switching – namely, a loss in performance – but in my mind, I rather wait a little longer, knowing I have increased security.  So, as a first step, I switched my homepage in Google Chrome. This was pretty straight forward, I simply had to press the Wrench icon, and then select Options.

The next step was to change the search provider – in Google Chrome, this is crucial – since it relies so heavily on one smart search/address bar. When I went to do that, I instinctively selected the existing search engine I was using: Google Canada, and attempted to edit it. Unfortunately, the URL field was grayed out, preventing me from making changes to the URL pattern.

I then figured out that some of these providers are built-in, and can’t be edited. You have to manually add a new search engine, which allows you to define all fields. Here’s what I entered for each field:

• Name: Google HTTPS
• Keyword: g
• URL: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s

Once I selected the new engine as my as the default, I was ready to go. Google’s SSL search was my homepage, and my default search engine. Yet, I still had some flexibility: I chose keywords that would allow me to easily switch between engines. For example, by typing:

gc wikipedia ducks

Chrome understands that I want to search using Google Canada:

This allowed me to have a secure search engine by default, all the while making it easy for me to use others on-the-fly.

I’m constantly on the lookout for quicker ways to perform everyday tasks in Windows. That said, when I needed to create multiple empty folders at different folder depths, I questioned how I would do so with keyboard shortcuts. Windows 7 already facilitates the process of creating new folders, but most of the visible options are mouse-powered:

Despite these mouse-powered shortcuts, I’ve always felt that keyboard shortcuts were faster. With that in mind, I took my search to Google, and eventually and found what I was looking for:

CTRL + SHIFT + N

Great shortcut… after you press it, you can immediately start typing the folder name. No need to use the mouse in between creating the folder, and typing the name. There’s just one unfortunate catch – the shortcut only works in Windows 7. Seeing as I needed something that worked across Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, I returned to Google for an alternative. Here’s what I found:

ALT + FWF

Certainly an awkward looking shortcut, but it works just like CTRL + SHIFT + N. The only difference is that it uses accelerator keys, a long-supported feature of Windows. Back in Windows Server 2003, accelerator keys were easy to recognize visually:

All you had to do was look for underlined letters in the menu options. As can be seen above, the File menu option has the F key associated. If you hold ALT, the key combination you press will be sent to the menu bar. This also works in Windows Vista, and Windows 7 – though, by default, the underlined letters and menu bar are hidden. So, for example, you can follow the ALT + FWF path. Holding ALT, first press F to select File, then W for New, and F for Folder. After that, just type the name of the new folder, and press ENTER.

Interested in making the underlined letters always visible in Windows 7? If so, read How to Restore Underlined Shortcuts in Menus.

I was downloading the game client for StarCraft 2, in anticipation of the July 27, 2010 release – when the Blizzard Downloader started to complain. It claimed it couldn’t write a file properly, after already having written 2GB of data. Given that it was downloading straight to an external hard drive, I wasn’t completely surprised. I decided to scrap whatever I had already downloaded, change the download directory to my internal hard drive, and start anew.

I couldn’t find a way to change the download directory from within the Blizzard Downloader, so I instead deleted the download directory, hoping it would realize it – and prompt me for a new directory. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that intelligent:

Clicking OK would just cause the Blizzard Downloader to close.

Solution

Some of the instructions found in this article involve modifying the Windows registry. If modified incorrectly, serious problems may occur. It is highly recommended by both the author of this article, and by Microsoft – that you back up the registry before you modify it. For information on how to do this, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge article:

MSKB 322756 –  How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

To solve this, I had to delete a specific registry key that was created by the Blizzard Downloader:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareBlizzard EntertainmentDownloader

After I deleted it, the next time Blizzard Downloader appeared – it prompted me for a new directory.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Click Start – Run (or press Windows Key + R). Type regedit.exe in the “Run” dialog, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareBlizzard Entertainment” using the Registry Editor.
3. Right-click the “Downloader” key.
4. Select “Delete”.
5. Press “Yes” when asked whether you want to delete all sub-keys.

Keep in mind, though, that I had deleted my partial download, so I had nothing to lose. If you plan to move a partial download to another directory and resume… it might be safer to leave most of the registry keys alone, and just change the path in one specific Downloader sub-key. To do this, look at the Downloader sub-keys, you’ll find one that is named “Path”. It holds the path you’re downloading to – you can try changing it only there, and see if that’s enough.

As you may know, I sometimes use Jing to take screenshots. Usually, this is when Snipping Tool stops working, and my kill the process trick doesn’t revive it.

Lately, when I booted my machine, I saw this dialog appear:

Learn Jing Now? No thanks, I already know how to use Jing. So… what other options do I have?

• “Replay”
• “Sign Up Now”

That’s it. The usual Minimize-Maximize-Close buttons from Windows aren’t there, and I don’t see a Close button. Replay just starts the tutorial video again, and Sign Up Now sounds like I have to register for something . I already created a Screencast account – I remember doing that specifically to satisfy Jing. So, as far as I know, I don’t need to sign up. Yet, the text above the Sign Up Now button seems to suggest that I should click it… but I know I already signed up, why would I do it again?  Because of the resulting confusion, I see the dialog as having a poor user interface. While it is visually appealing, I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to click. I’ve also been trained to avoid registration forms – I only use them when I absolutely have to. After all, each time I register somewhere – it takes time, and the information I provide could be exposed in one more location.

If I decide I want to close the window, I have to get creative… I can either:

• Right-click the window in the taskbar, and select Close Window.
• Press ALT+F4.
• Open Task Manager, and kill the process from there.

It could have been easily averted with a Close button, or at least clearer instructions.  If I have to sign up again to use Jing, then tell me why. If I have to click that button to get to the login page, then that’s terrible – just put a Login button alongside Sign Up Now. Either way, make it clear.

One college semester, long ago, I had an English class that ended with one very unfortunate event. It left me accused for something that I did not intend to do, forever changing the way I approach my written works.

Back then, it took me up to 2 1/2 hours of travel time to get to school, and 2 1/2 hours to return home. I did this every day, and so I didn’t have much time to relax when I got home. Think about it, I left home – it was dark out. I get home, dark – the only sunlight I saw was during my breaks at school. I’ll likely focus on my transport stories in another post – it’s a fascinating tale in itself; however, I mention it now because it meant my focus was largely on my core Computer Science classes. Knowing I was quite good in English, I decided I could put it on the back burner for the start of the semester, knowing that there was one big, valuable assignment at the end. As long as I did well on that, I knew my mark would be pretty good. I trusted my skill with the English language, I was sure I could pull this off.

Eventually, I approached the date where the big assignment had to be handed in. I was busy with other classes, and couldn’t devote time to the English assignment until the last three days before it was due. Though I was running out of time, I knew I would succeed – so I planned my last three days:

• Day 1: Finish reading the material, and take notes of areas I want to reference in my paper.
• Day 2: Complete rough draft.
• Day 3: Polish and refine until I have a final version.

It was a lot of work, but I knew I could pull it off – and I did, with one unfortunate detail.

While finalizing my rough draft, I found I was missing a section of text that would allow two paragraphs to flow properly. Looking for ideas, I did something I never did before – I used Google to locate similar papers written by others. My intention was to see if anyone else focused on the same points as me, and if they did, how they structured their points. I eventually found what I was looking for – a crucial 3-4 sentences that would perfect the flow of my paper, most of which was taken up by a quote from the book. I copied this text into my rough draft, with the intention of removing it later, and instead writing my own text that covered a similar set of points. This was a fatal mistake – given how much work I had to do, I ended up being so absorbed in the paper that I forgot about the sentences from the external source. When I reached the end of the 3 days, I was pleased with what I managed to achieve – it was a lot of content to produce in three days. I handed my work in the next day, and waited for my marks.

A few days later, our English teacher published her schedule for giving us our papers back – she wanted to meet with each of us. When I went into the classroom, shutting the door behind me, I was expecting to hear mostly positive remarks, but instead, I was told I got 0%. ZERO. PERCENT. She told me it was due to plagiarism, and at first, I was completely stunned – I would never plagiarize… it’s completely against my moral code. Then, it hit me. The external text – I completely forgot to change it. Shocked, I explained the situation to the teacher, but she then replied asking me if that was true, why did I change the page numbers in the (accidentally) plagiarized portion?

I had a good answer to that, and it was related to the fact that I spent time with a particular individual while in English class. We’ll call him Fred. Fred was fun to hang around with, but it was pretty obvious he was a into the marijuana. I was never into that stuff, but I wasn’t one to alienate people because they had such habits. So, given all our other classes were together, I usually sat with him. Unfortunately for me, I’m convinced that factor played a huge part in my 0%. You see, Fred wasn’t the taking English very seriously, though he was aiming to finish his most valuable assignments, like me. He called me as I was working on my paper – and I provided him with some of my quotes. Just quotes from the book – that, unbeknown to me, had wrong page numbers, because I found some of them online. He later called me back to warn me about this, and so I proceeded to correct the page numbers, so that they were all valid according to my physical copy of the book. Since the forgotten text also had a quote, I corrected it along with the others – unknowingly making it seem like I was trying to cover something up. I later found out that Fred got 0% too, also for plagiarism. I didn’t know the details, but knew that I only gave him quotes from the book, nothing by another author. Regardless of his reason, it really looked bad next to me – considering I had shared with him some of my quotes.

Despite my attempts to explain this to the teacher, she didn’t believe me. It didn’t matter to her that only 3-4 sentences were accidentally plagiarized, even though it was a tiny percentage compared to the overall content I wrote. I remember clearly asking her – considering the ratio, why would I plagiarize? If I need 4 sentences, I’ll write them – that’s nothing compared to the size of the whole paper. It doesn’t make sense that anyone would plagiarize in that scenario. She still refused to budge from her mark of 0%, dismissing what I considered to be a rational, logical argument. Then again, I was really unlucky – the circumstances were aligned against me:

• I was friends with Fred, who really didn’t come off as mature, and who may have even plagiarized in the end.
• I corrected the page numbers in the quotes, one of which just-so-happened to be in the accidentally plagiarized text.
• I didn’t do much work up until that point, so the teacher probably assumed I was slacker/irresponsible by nature.

I tried taking it higher up within the college, but eventually decided to end the frustration. The higher ups told me the incident would be seen as a fluke if nothing else happened in my further education. I decided to leave it at that, but to this day I feel anger and frustration when I think about it. Nothing is worse than being accused of something you would never do. When you try to tell the truth, no one believes you – might as well have been trying to convince someone from a jail cell. I had to drop the English class at that point, as the assignment was too important – my chances of passing were almost impossible. Had I tried to pass English, I would have had to spend much more time on it – and to get what… a mere 60%. It didn’t see the point.

So, as you can imagine, this changed my views on a lot of things. The most obvious: now whenever I temporarily copy external text into a document, I make it bold, size 20, and red. That way, there’s no chance I can mistake it for my own content. I’m also more cautious about who I associate with.